From Burnout to Balance: Rethinking the Costs of Stress in the Workplace

Stress is a factor of life that we experience for different reasons, at various stages of life, to differing degrees, but always with negative long-term results. Stress is the state of our body on high alert, caused by a release of hormones in the nervous system, readying us with a fight, flight, or freeze response.

The purpose of stress is to prepare us to survive a life-threatening situation, and this stress response could save our lives. But living in an extended survival mode has the opposite effect and can cause far more damage than good. Frequent headaches, body aches, insomnia, restlessness, and weight gain or weight loss are some of the common ways stress impacts the body.

Emotionally, stress can cause frustration, low self-efficacy, anger, depression, and suicidal thoughts. 1 Peter 5:7 reminds us, “Cast all of your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” There is no option to disable the stress response, but there are ways in which we might cope with, manage, or avoid situations that trigger our stress response.

The workplace is the source of so much of our stress, and it is also a place that is largely unavoidable. Over time, we have all developed natural ways of managing stress in the workplace. But are they healthy or sustainable? What is a healthy way to manage stress in the workplace? Jesus gives instructions for managing stress.

He tells us to give Him our burdens and our uncertainties, and He will give us rest. Jesus wants us to depend upon Him for everything, talk with Him about the specific work stressors, and how they’re impacting our lives. He wants us to go to Him seeking and expecting answers from Him.

Good Stress

Everyone responds to stressful situations differently. As humans, we crave variety and can thrive on unpredictability. If life were one note and entirely safe, we would get bored in the short term and depressed over time. We have seen the detrimental effects of stress over the years or even decades, but a little bit of stress can be helpful and invigorating.

Without pressure of any kind, we might fail to be on time, meet deadlines, have creative thoughts, or identify helpful solutions. Certainly, some people respond wonderfully under pressure, while others crumble. There is no right or wrong response. Each one depends on a multitude of factors, including our genetic makeup and previous experience with trauma.

A danger arises when we cannot be productive without stress, and sadly, this is the reality in many workplaces. Bosses and executives freely exploit the neuroscience of stress to achieve maximum productivity from their staff regularly. This tactic is toxic and manipulative, and sadly, it is also effective. The results come at the expense of workers’ health.

Fight, Flight, or Freeze?

Our nervous system sees any stressful occurrence as a potentially fatal threat. It prepares a response to get us out of danger by releasing hormones and chemicals that will help us stay alive. These responses are quite literally a survival instinct designed to help us evade a moment of temporary danger. They are counterproductive over long periods and, frustratingly, we have no way of controlling them. How do you respond to stress?

Do you cave under pressure? This is the “freeze” response. It ensures your safety by internally disabling you (temporarily) until the danger has passed. Unfortunately, it isn’t helpful in a stressful environment like a workplace, where deadlines and responsibilities pile up and don’t go away. If you find yourself procrastinating, easily distracted, or unfocused during a stressful period, this could be your body’s natural “freeze” response.

If you are one of those people who kick into gear when crises happen, you are experiencing the “fight” response. Your body has armed you with energy and clarity of thought so that you can easily make good decisions. Our bodies can only withstand so much stress. Over time, the fight response can lead to great bodily damage, causing artery damage, which can become a precursor to stroke or heart attack risk.

You may have a sharpened sense of observation in these times, seeing details that others miss. This makes you valuable at the moment, but you may find yourself lacking in energy before everyone else and completely exhausted by the end of the workday. It becomes cyclical when we’re stressed and feeling inadequate, so we take on more than we should, and then we’re exhausted and encounter greater stress.

The third response that you might experience is the “flight” response. If you hate conflict, cannot handle the emotions that come with arguments, and would rather not have raised voices in the office, then you likely respond to stress by wanting to escape it. And, as with the “freeze” response, you might be easily distracted.

This is a way of avoiding tension related to stress. Avoidance is like a pressure cooker. The steam is rising to the top, but you keep putting the lid on. Although steam is escaping, eventually the lid flies off, and there’s an emotional overflow that occurs.

We may experience one of these responses regularly, or we may respond in various ways to various stressors. Most of the time, we are not acutely aware of how we cope with stress – we progress on autopilot. Perhaps you already have a clear idea of the way your nervous system responds to stress. Maybe you will have to pay attention and become more self-aware in the workplace to figure it out.

How to Manage Stress in the Workplace According to Your Response Type

Strategies for the Freeze Response

As someone whose nervous system helps you to “go offline” in times of crisis, you are saved from shock but not from the aftershock of the crisis. In other words, you might find it hard to respond to pressure at the time, but once the deadline has passed, you might find that you have clarity of thought. Of course, this is not helpful after the fact.

When clarity of thought comes, maximize it. You might find that you are not productive at certain hours when there is a lot of noise and tension, but you can think more clearly when it’s calmer.

You might not have linked a noisy or busy environment to your lack of productivity, but chances are that your nervous system was aware of the “threat”. If you can restructure your work hours, or if you can identify when you are most productive, capitalize on those hours. Remember that procrastination is often a sign that you are struggling to cope.

Strategies for the Fight Response

People with the fight response rise to the challenges and enjoy facing them. This can be an addictive feeling. After all, it is wonderful to be good at something. Unfortunately, this means that you will likely take work issues home, even if only in your mind. The tendency to not be able to switch off comes with this territory, and you risk facing burnout in the future if you do not learn to manage your stress response.

It will be beneficial for you to practice setting up boundaries, both in your working environment and at home (to keep work separate). At work, this could look like prioritizing your time better. By focusing on a single task at hand and not trying to multitask, you might find it easier to complete tasks and with less stress.

Practice not working in the evenings and not responding to anything other than vital work correspondence at home. You could redirect your build-up of energy into a hobby, family, or relationship. If you are exhausted by the end of the working day, prioritize relaxation when you get home. Find a pursuit that calms you and try to do it at least twice a week.

Strategies for the Flight Response

This may be the most difficult reaction of all. The flight response to workplace stress often looks like procrastination, poor communication, and feelings of being constantly overwhelmed.

If you experience this response, you will know that avoiding pressure makes them worse. A full inbox of emails, a stack of paperwork, or a list of calls to make can feel like an insurmountable obstacle that you would rather ignore.

When you find yourself in this emotional space, try thinking this: the only way out is through. Your nervous system might be trying to protect you from harm, but to clear a backlog of work, you just have to do it.

You cannot conquer a mountain in one leap. But if you pick one achievable task and do it, and then check it off the list for today, in no time you will make real progress. It’s about building a rhythm to gain momentum.

Don’t attempt too much at once. Rather, begin with a list of three to five achievable tasks and give yourself a time frame to complete them (say, before lunch or by the end of the day). This will train you to prioritize tasks.

Other coping skills that can help include keeping a memory verse/affirmation or Scripture near your desk or in your phone and reading it several times throughout the day. One Scripture that may help you begin is Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Also, journaling for 3-5 minutes during your workday to acknowledge your feelings and give place to them can also help, which can then be followed up later in the day or week as a prayer journal entry to God. Listening to a mini sermon or encouraging song can provide relief. Furthermore, you could do a simple act of gratitude. Sometimes stepping outside of ourselves is helpful, and it demonstrates the love of Christ.

Maybe bring coffee/tea or snacks into work, offer a genuine compliment or help a coworker with a work-related task, assuming it will not cause you further stress. Stress will happen and will continue to happen, but if you begin recognizing your stress triggers, you can quickly address them before they reach a state of complete alarm.

Lastly, it may also pay to focus on improving your communication. Many people who experience a flight response are also afraid of confrontation and struggle to manage other people’s expectations of them.

If you can be open about when you feel unprepared, when you are at your limit, or when you are struggling to keep afloat, you may find a lot of that fear response disappearing. Remember, we can’t control other people’s actions; we can only control our responses to those actions, and the depth of our response to those actions.

Further Steps to Manage Stress in the Workplace

If managing work stress is becoming unbearable and unmanageable, we recommend talking with a professional counselor or therapist to work out the best method of stress management for you. There are counselors ready to hear and to help. Call us today to make your appointment.